U.S. futures added to gains as President Donald Trump spoke at a rally without casting any immediate shadow over a deal in principle among legislators to fund the government. Japanese 10-year bond yields remained in negative territory even after the Bank of Japan on Tuesday cut purchases of some longer-dated bonds for the first time since July in a regular operation. The BOJ has sought to taper its purchases as it focuses on yield targets rather than quantitative easing.

The three main U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on Thursday and Friday as optimism about the economy rose after President Donald Trump vowed to make a major tax announcement in the next few weeks. The S&P 500 has surged 8.3 percent since Trump's Nov. 8 election, fueled by expectations he will lower corporate taxes, reduce regulations and increase infrastructure spending. The rally had stalled amid concerns over Trump's protectionist stance and lack of clarity on policy reforms.

(Reuters) – Major U.S. retailers Sears and Kmart this week removed 31 Trump Home items from their online product offerings to focus on more profitable items, a spokesman said on Saturday. The decision follows retailer Nordstrom Inc's announcement this week it had decided to stop carrying Ivanka Trump's apparel because of declining sales, prompting President Donald Trump to take to Twitter to defend his daughter. White House spokesman Sean Spicer characterized the Nordstrom move as a “direct attack” on the president's policies.

ATHENS/BERLIN (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned international lenders on Saturday not to heap new burdens on his country but said he believed the drawn-out bailout review with them would end well. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, however, said the deal was “on shaky ground” because the International Monetary Fund had not decided what role it would play. The comments came a day after Greece and its international lenders made clear progress towards bridging differences over Athens's fiscal path in coming years, moving closer to a deal that would secure new loan disbursements and save the country from default.

A decision to go with Boeing would be a setback for Airbus Group , which plans to build a bigger version of its A350 although these plans have already been placed on hold amid uncertainty over demand for wide-body jets. Singapore Airlines is looking at choosing 20 of the latest model of Boeing's 777, the 406-seat 777-9 over a stretched version of the Airbus A350, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – President Donald Trump blasted department store chain Nordstrom Inc on Wednesday for dropping his daughter Ivanka's clothing line, prompting critics to accuse him of misusing public office to benefit his family's sprawling business empire. After Trump's highly unusual move to use a White House platform to intervene in a commercial matter involving his daughter, Nordstrom reiterated that its action last week was based on declining sales of the Ivanka Trump products. “My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom.

Intel Corp chose the White House Oval Office as its backdrop to announce a $7 billion investment in a previously shelved Arizona factory, which it said would create 3,000 jobs when it is up and running. Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich told reporters about the investment while standing behind President Donald Trump. Trump told reporters Krzanich called him a few weeks ago to say he wanted to meet to make a big announcement.

U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, with the S&P 500 closing just short of a record high, boosted by gains in financial shares as President Donald Trump moved ahead with deregulation action and by a strong payrolls report. The S&P financial sector jumped 2 percent to score its best day since mid-November after Trump signed an executive order to scale back regulations in the industry that were implemented in the wake of the financial crisis, including the Dodd-Frank law. JP Morgan Chase shares closed up 3.1 percent at $87.18 as the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and helped push the S&P bank index up 2.6 percent.

SINGAPORE/TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices edged up on Friday on news that U.S. President Donald Trump could be poised to impose new sanctions on multiple Iranian entities, firing geopolitical tensions between the two nations. Reuters reported that the U.S. administration is prepared to roll out new measures against more than two dozen Iranian targets following Tehran's ballistic missile test, according to sources, but the package was formulated in a way that would not violate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Front month U.S. crude futures, also known as West Texas Intermediate, climbed 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $53.83 a barrel, after ending Tuesday down 34 cents.